Dear Santa

This was originally published on the No More Prison Website in December 2007

By Alison Henderson


Dedicated to Sandra currently residing in HMP Styal.
 

 
Dear Santa,

Me and Mum would always write

dear Santa Claus a note,

but this year Mum won't be around

so this is what I wrote:


Dear Santa if I had one wish

to make all on my own,

it would be to release my Mum

and let her please come home.


Grandma makes the Christmas roast

with lots of food to eat,

but this year in the dining room

there'll be an empty seat.



I know it's far too much to ask

so this year there's no wish,

but Santa could I ask you to

deliver my Mum this.................



Trust me Mum you will get through

don't cry or shed a tear,

we'll celebrate our Christmas day

when you come home next year.



You told us to enjoy ourselves

but I can't promise that,

I'll miss you telling Christmas jokes

wearing your party hat.



I love you Mum with all my heart

be strong and please don't cry,

Christmas day will come and go

and time will soon fly by.



I know you made a big mistake

but what is done is done,

prison's stole our Christmas but....

they'll never steal my Mum.



To Mum With Love.

Further failure documented - the only answer for Styal Prison is closure

This was published on the No More Prison Website in 2006

The publication this week of the Inspectorate of Prisons report on Styal Prison confirms that it is still a desperate and failing institution. It contains many recommendations but fails to identify the one simple solution - close Styal Prison.


The reality of Styal - humiliation, abuse, pain and lack of care

Key findings of the inspection team include:

• The use of violent force by Prison Officers on prisoners had doubled in the last two years
• An increase in prisoners being assulted and in levels of bullying
• Serious self harming is "prolific" and is responded to by prison staff using force and confinement in punishment cells.
• Women who self harmed were being routinely stripped as punishment.
• The use of "unfurnished" cells has increased by 250% in two years
• No support was given to many self harming women
• The mother and baby unit failed to meet child protection standards
• The Prison is not reviewing "near-death" incidents to learn lessons
• The Food in the prison remains very bad and unhealthy in content and in preparation.
• Many of the toilets were unscreened
• All day child visits had been stopped
• Many new prisoners were not being issued with even a single bra.
• The "Segregation unit" had been renamed the "Care, support and reintegration unit"

Who we lock up - the powerless and abused

The report also included details of the women that we lock up in Styal:

• The majority of women caged have been victims of rape or other serious assults
• There are high levels of mental illness and acute mental distress
• 80% had serious and longstanding substance misuse problems
• 60% are mothers
• The vast majority are "low risk" and with no histories of violence

Lies exposed

The Report challenges the Prison's own account of the regime experienced by women effectively accusing the Governor and his staff of lying about the time women spend out of the cells. They point out that despite the Prison claiming women are allowed out of their cells for 11 hours a day the reality is that the most vulnerable are locked up for 19 hours or more a day. Such evidence suggests the reality of Styal is likely to be far more painful, brutal and abusive than is claimed by the Governor.

Recommendations - keep trying!!
Despite all the good work done by the Inspectorate in exposing some of the reality of Britain's prisons they tend to disappoint when it comes to recommendations of what is to be done. The Inspectorate never forget that there belief in Prison and the suggested "improvements" they ask for reflect this belief. They make hundreds of recommendations when only one was really necessary.

Styal has failed it should be closed.

To maintain this ludicrous perspective that Styal could be a "healthy place" requires great naivety and many of the recommendations reflect this. On race relations after failing to make a recommendation in the last report they this time boldly request that:

Managers should discuss with the prisoner race relations committee the reasons that black and minority ethnic women prisoners have a different perception of their treatment than white women prisoners, and aim to address those differences.

Was it too much for them to consider the reason was racism?

Styal must close

The report fails to mention the Government's plans to double the size of Styal increasing dramatically the abuse, hard and pain this evil place inflicts on powerless and abused women. No More Prison is committed to resisting this expansion and instead calling for the immediate closure of Styal.

Styal has no future. It is unreformable. It is a place of abuse, pain and death. Close it now

 

VIGIL TO MARK THE 4TH ANNIVERSARY OF SARAH CAMPBELL'S DEATH

First published on the No More Prison Website in January 2007

A vigil to mark the 4th anniversary of the death of Sarah Campbell was held on Thursday 18 January 2007 outside HMP & YOI Styal, Cheshire

Flowers were laid in memory of Sarah, who died on 18 January 2003, aged 18. Banners displayed outside the prison included "SHAME ON THE HOME OFFICE" - very apt, considering their lack of apology over Sarah's death. The vigil was attended by friends and supporters from Cheshire, Shropshire, and Greater Manchester, including representatives from FRFI (Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism!), Manchester. A number of supporters were unable to attend due to very bad weather conditions. Visitors to the prison stopped to speak. Some family members expressed concern about the self-harming behaviour of their loved ones held at HMP Styal, including one mother who spoke of her daughter having tried to commit suicide.

Sarah's mother Pauline comments ""Sarah's death, on 18 January 2003, has left a deep void in my life. She was my only child, and I miss her terribly. Although the Home Office have accepted liability for her death, I despair at the lack of apology. A vigil will continue to be held every year as a way of remembering Sarah, whose young life was abruptly ended due to appalling failures on the part of the prison. Whatever a person has done wrong, no-one deserves to die in this way. Tragically, and on the same day that Sarah's vigil was being held, it was reported in the press that two women prisoners have killed themselves in the past ten days."